A familiar face in Vhembe's football circles, Johnny Ferreira, has bounced back and was appointed as technical director of Venda Football Club (VFC). On Monday afternoon, he was already hard at work, monitoring the players during a practice session at the high school grounds in Louis Trichardt.
On Saturday, Ferreira was seen sitting not far from the chairperson of the team, Mr Itani Munzhelele, when VFC played to a 1-all draw with Pretoria Callies at the Thohoyandou Stadium. When he was spotted at the training session two days later, he was clearly not merely passing by and relaxing at the stadium.
Ferreira was without a job after Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila FC were relegated from the Motsepe Foundation Championship to the ABC Motsepe league.
Ferreira is no stranger to VFC as he was their coach during their first season in the professional set-up, three seasons ago.
"We have decided to rope in Ferreira as a technical director to come and impart his knowledge to these young coaches as we plan for the future‚" said Munzhelele this week. Ferreira has been appointed on a one-year contract.
Munzhelele said Ferreira's appointment is not a knee-jerk reaction because of VFC's lacklustre performance thus far. "His responsibilities will mainly be the technical issues and to advise the coach and his assistants. We are not bringing him in to try and move anyone out," he said. He added that VFC's technical team needed to be boosted and would depend on Ferreira's experience to guide them.
"Ferreira is not the coach, but will sit on the bench to advise and work with the coach, Joel Masutha, and his assistant, Morgan Shivambu. His mission is to help turn VFC's situation around‚" he said.
Ferreira was confident that VFC's situation can be turned around. He said the club boasted good players and a technical team. "We just need to work together and get the job done. If I didn't believe it is possible, I wouldn't be here‚" Ferreira said.
VFC will play against Platinum City Rovers at Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday.